Common Polish Words and Phrases

Polish may seem like a daunting challenge at first, and while the grammatical complexity of the language is difficult, the basic phrases are not hard to master once you know how to pronounce them correctly.

This guide provides the foundations of Polish pronunciation, along with the key phrases for introducing yourself, asking questions and making requests for things in Polish. It also lists Polish numbers, which are very useful for shopping and buying tickets, as well as days of the week and months of the year, allowing you to make plans ahead of time. If traveling on public transport or going to concerts and events, the hours of the day and phrases for telling the time will be handy too.

The information in this guide will hugely improve your experience of visiting Poland and enable you to be a much more independent traveler!

Basic Rules for Speaking Polish

Diacritics on Polish letters (the ogonek (“little tail”) on ę and ą; the kropka on ż; the kreska on ć, ń, ó, ś, ź; and the stroke on ł) profoundly affect pronunciation, so you must correctly pronounce them in order to be understood. They are pronounced like this: ę – like en in “sense,” but pronounced without completely closing the lips on the n,giving a nasal resonance; ą – like the om in “bomb,” but the lips should not close on the m; ż – like s in “measure” (zi is pronounced in the same way); ć – like ch in “cheek” (ci in Polish is also pronounced the same way); ń – like ny in “canyon” (ni is pronounced in the same way); ó – like oo in“toot” (this character has the same sound as u in English) ś – like sh in “sheep” (si is pronounced in the same way); ź – like z in “zoo”;ł – like w in “wax.”

Some other letters, and combinations of letters, also have a special pronunciation: c – like ts in “kits”; i – like ee in “meek”; j – like y in “you”; r – is always rolled, like the Spanish word arriba; w – like v in “vet”; y – like i in “ink”; ch – like h in “horse,” but with a more throaty pronunciation; cz – like ch in “cheek” (pronounced in the same way as ć and ci); rz – like s in “measure” (pronounced in the same way as ż and zi); sz – like sh in “sheep” (pronounced in the same way as ś and si); dz – like dds in “odds”; dzi – like j in “jeans” (dź and dż are pronounced in the same way); bi – like b in “beg”; gi – like g-y in “beg you”; ki – like ke-y in “like you”; mi – like m-y in “charm you”; pi – like p-y in “stop you.”

All Polish vowels are short, apart from the nasal vowels of ą and ę, which are longer in their pronunciation.

When pronouncing a Polish word, the stress should always fall on the penultimate syllable.

Remember, the above rules are unbreakable. If you follow the rules correctly, you will find it a lot easier to learn the Polish language.